Submarine



G. LOCKHART.

SUBMARINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 10, I9I8- Patented Dec. 21, 1920.

km 2 MN 3 m y M H *4 IO\ 1 v PVC 0 a v N M W I MAN mw & 0 m Q 0 Q l NEE STATE GEORGE LQCKHART, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SUBMARIN'E.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 21, 1%20.

Application filed. May 10, 1918. Serial No. 233,639.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnoncn Loonrmn'r, a citizen of the United States, and resident of the borough of Manhattan, city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Submarines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a method or means for operating a submarine while the boat is submerged, and has for its purpose, the provision of means whereby a gasolene, gas, oil or other internal combustion engine may be continually operated, regardless of the depth to which the boat may go, and to accomplish my object, I have found it necessary to provide means for discharging the products of combustion or for taking them from the engine cylinder without causing back pressure, and further, I provide means for collecting and retaining the products of combustion and for preventing burned gases from being discharged into the open compartments of the boat, thus I prevent the possibility of harm to the occupants of the boat, or the crew, by the operation of the engine in any entirely inclosed or submerged submarine.

The means which I employ and the method of operation will be fully set forth as the specification progresses.

The following is what I consider a good means of carrying out my invention, and the accompanying drawings should be referred to for a complete understanding of the specification which follows:

In the drawings:

Figure 1 shows a side elevation of my complete apparatus.

Fig. 2 shows a sectional view through a boat and an end elevation of part of my device.

Fig. 3 shows a diagram of the relative arrangement of all of the parts.

Similar reference numerals indicate like parts in all the figures where they appear.

The submarine referred to in this speciiication may be of any design, shape or size. It is not necessary for the accomplishment of my purpose that special features be added to the submarine, or that material changes be made therein, and therefore, in my specification, I will refer to the submarine as a whole, and in the drawing, in dicate the entire craft by the reference character 1.

Arranged within the boat, and at any desired position therem, is the engine, con- Sistin of a plurallty of cylinders, and in the drawings, 1 have shown a 12-cylinder engine of the V-type. The cylinders are arranged in opposed series, as shown at 2 and 3, connected to a common crank-shaft 11. To the rearmost or aft end of the crankshaft, 1 may connect the propeller 6.

A tank 8 conveniently placed supplies the fuel to the cylinders of the engine, and it will be understood that the fuel supply is of the character adapted to the particular type of engine used. With a four-cycle engine of the common automobile type, a carbureter and intake manifold 9 and 10 will be required.

Connected to the crank-shaft i, on the engine, is a gear 11, and in mesh with this gear 11, is a larger gear 12 on the shaft 13 of a comparatively large pump 14, and connected to the pump shaft 13, or driven therefrom, is a high pressure pumping device which may consist of the duplex pump 15 as shown.

In one or more of the submerged chambers of the boat, I may construct tanks as shown at 16-17. These tanks should be of rather large capacity and in each of these tanks I may arrange a coil of pipe as shown at 18 having its inlet 19 and outlet 20 connected through the exterior shell of the boat, and valves 21 and 22 control the passage through the pipe coil 18.

The exhaust manifold of the engine is connected with the tanks 1617 preferably at a high point, and to each of these tanks 16-17, and at a point preferably low down on the side or at the bottom thereof, I connect a pipe 23 which leads to the larger pump 14. A receiving tank 24 arranged between the pumps 14- and 15 will receive the somewhat compressed discharge from the pump 14 and will deliver it to the pump 15. A plurality of high pressure tanks 25,

26 and 27 may be connected to the discharge side of the pump 15.

The operation of my device may be readily understood from the foregoing description and the drawing. I will, however, again refer to the operation so that the relation of the parts that I have described may be fully understood.

The diagram Fig. 3 shows the arrangement of all of the parts and may be referred to in this description of the operation, and

it will be noted that the same reference characters have been applied to the part shown in the diagram as are used to indioate the completed parts shown in the other figures.

The exhaust manifolds from the engines are connected to the tanks 16----17. The gases, the products of combustion from the engine, are received in these tanks 16-17 at a high temperature and are cooled therein by the water which is caused to enter through the passage 19.

The cooling of the products of combustion and their expansion into the tanks 16 7 will lower the pressure thereof, but I desire that the tanks 1617 shall always be under partial vacuum and therefore, I have provided a large pump let which will continually operate to draw away the products of combustion from the tanks 1617, and the relation of this pump 14 to the tanks should be such as to retain them exhausted at all times, even when the discharge of the gases, due to the rapid operation of the engine increases the normal pressure.

It is not necessary, however, that a material vacuum be produced in the tanks 16--17. I only desire that their pressure should not exceed normal atmospheric pressure.

The pump 14 discharges into a receiving tank 24;. It is possible to connect the pump 1 1 with high pressure receiving tanks, but

I prefer for efliciency in operation that the pump 14 should work with the smallest possible back pressure, and as it is desirable that the piston cylinder of this pump be large, so as to move a maximum quantity of exhaust gases at each stroke, and so that it can receive the exhaust gases as rapidly as they are discharged into the tanks 16-17, I prefer to use a slow-running low pressure pump at 14.

The pumps 15 may be high pressure pumps of the compound type and as they receive the somewhat compressed gases from the tank 24%, their operation will be uniform regardless of the rapidity at which the gases are discharged from the engines.

The high pressure pump 15 may discharge the spent gases directly into the water surrounding the submarine, or into high pressure receiving tanks 25, 26 and 27, in which the gases may be retained until the submarine again returns to the surface. I know of no reason at this time why the tanks 25, 26 and 27 should not be dispensed with, as a duplex pump such as I have described at 15, receiving condensed and partially compressed gases from the pump 14; can readily develop a pressure sufficient to allow a discharge directly outof the submarine through pipes 28 and 30 and check valve 29.

Although I appreciate a loss of power due to the operation of my device, this loss is partially compensated for by the increased efiiciency of the engine due to the lack of back pressure, and by the advantage of a power directly applied which makes the use of electrical accumulators or storage batteries and motors unnecessary. In addition, my method increases the range of operation of the submarine.

My device has a further advantage that it makes it possible to operate an internal combustion engine either on the surface, or submerged with an entire absence of noise due to discharge and this without the use of mufflers which, because of their construction, produce a back pressure, which materially lowers the eiiiciency of the engine.

Modifications, other than those referred to may be made within the scope of the appended claim without departing from the principle or sacrificing the advantages of the invention. N

Having carefully and fully described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

The combination with a submarine boat, an internal combustion engine, a condenser connected to the engine to receive the exhaust gases therefrom, a pump for maintaining a partial vacuum in the condenser and pumping out the exhaust gases, a reservoir into which the gases from the condenser are received and a high pressure discharge pump connected to the reservoir for exhausting the gases therefrom and forcing the said gases under pressure outside of the vessel.

Signed at New York city, in the county and State of New York this 20th day of April, 1918.

GEORGE LOCKHART.

Witness:

G. E. S. MARK. 

